Serpentine Dance Studio - Bethesda, Maryland

Lara

I took lessons with Yasmin for a couple years when she was teaching at Joy of Motion. I learned a lot from her about solo performance, technique, and teaching. She is a knowledgeable, no nonsense instructor who gives excellent advice. After five years performing in Turkey, I came back to the area and took a class in her new studio. It is BEAUTIFUL! Lovely decoration, spacious, and has my favorite kind of top of the line filtered water dispenser. (Ha! I really love that water dispenser.) And Yasmin is the same as always—a great teacher and mentor. Love Serpentine Studio!

Nancy B

Yasmin is an amazing teacher. She always has her students best interest at heart. She is an historian of Middle Eastern dance and you can feel her passion for sharing the art. Her studio is beautiful and a pleasure to study in. I highly recommend her classes and the experience to just be with her.

Janet I

Yasmin is the real deal when it comes to Egyptian belly dance! Since her emphasis is on improvisational dance, it was a little intimidating when I was just getting started. However, I've been going now for a year, and am really enjoying myself now that I have a lot of techniques under my belt (er, hip scarf)!
Yasmin always encourages us to speak up to ask questions, to ask her to explain a technique we don't get, and even asks if there's a style we'd like to work in (e.g. Saidi cane, skirt, veils, etc.).
Her knowledge of Egyptian dance styles, their history, and the music and musical instruments is encyclopedic.
I get a lot of joy out of her classes, and from practicing from the CDs she has curated and produced. The DC area is truly blessed to have such a talented Egyptian dance instructor!

Elisabeth Johnson-Crawford

Amazing dance teachers in a great location!
I've been studying with Yasmin for years and she is easily the best belly dance teacher in the region - she will get you to use the right muscles and avoid hurting yourself, give you the background understanding of how the dance fits into Egyptian culture, and she'll help you learn how to improvise.
Farah Abi's Zumba class is always fun and will give you a great workout! It's also a wonderful opportunity to dip your toe into a little bit of belly dance in a more familiar setting.
Can't recommend it enough!

Abigail Zenner

Serpentine Dance Studios is the place to go to learn bellydance in the DC area. Yasmin is so knowledgeable and takes the time to teach students of all ability levels how to find their muscles to execute dance technique.
I have been particularly impressed that Yasmin cares about her students by requiring vaccinations before attending classes there. It means a lot these days to stay safe and gives me the piece of mind to be able to attend classes in person.

Elisabetta Lambertini

Great little studio, an ideal intimate environment for dance classes. the art in the room is amazing, surely not your average fitness studio decor. just be careful if you go by car; Bethesda has weird parking rules designed to trick people into tickets.

Sandra Vidak

Very nice and spacious studio in heart of Bethesda. Marta's Zumba class is super fun and a great workout with probably the best price in the area ($10 per class), highly recommended!

Tammy Huynh

Pros:
- She has a beautiful studio with authentic Middle Eastern lanterns and rugs
- She allowed me to have a trial period before I signed up for the 10 class punch card
- She has a lot of experience with belly dancing
- She knows the authentic way to belly dance
- She is passionate about the culture

Cons:
- Her studio has rugs so it was difficult to dance and do certain moves
- It got to the point that whenever I would think about going to class, a feeling of dread came over me for the following reasons:
1) Her method of teaching is to do an impromptu dance and the students would just imitate her moves as much as we could then she would do may 20-30 mins of techniques and drills. Since the majority of her class was the impromptu dancing and just prancing around, this was not fun for me. I have taken many belly dancing classes before that were more structured and would teach a choreography (this part I found the most fun). I don't want to run around the studio trying to imitate her moves and not look good doing it
2) She would make us bring notebooks to jot down notes. She would tell us to look up this and look up that and give us homework assignments. I appreciate how passionate she is about the culture, but I'm not going to bring a notebook and 90% of the stuff I won't look up. If it is really that interesting to me, I will make a note in my phone, but she seemed demanding about us writing down notes instead of suggesting
3) She would slap my bottom as a way to correct my posture and technique - I don't appreciate this and I know she's trying to help, but acting rude and improper is not the way to go
4) She asked me to go to my school and see if they had anatomy posters for her to hang up in the classroom. I told her that she can just go online and find it, but she was so adamant about me asking them anyway... GO ONLINE. I already have enough on my plate and I don't owe you any favors
5) I only used up 6 out of 10 of my classes. I could have used it all up, but when I dread the class and don't look forward to it, I can't force myself. I moved beginning of July and knew I would forfeit my classes if I didn't use it up by the expiration date at the end of July. I asked her if the other students can use my classes so they don't go to waste - the answer was yes. I asked her if she would give her students my info so I can give them my punch card for free... crickets.

I still cringe when I think about her classes. Maybe the other students appreciate her class, but her style and my expectations don't mesh.